JP2015192339A - Terminal device, communication system, communication method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technology for suppressing rise of traffic caused by transmission of position information in a mobile communication network and suppressing increase in power consumption even in the case of performing positioning to acquire the position information.SOLUTION: A terminal device 10 comprises: a collection unit 38 that collects identification information and residual amount information on a battery residual amount with respect to each of terminal devices 10 by making the terminal devices 10 perform communication of identification information and residual amount information on battery residual amounts with respect to the terminal devices 10, through a second communication unit 34, with each other, and collects identification information and residual amount information on a battery residual amount with respect to the terminal device 10; and a selection unit 40 for selecting one terminal device 10 on the basis of the collected residual information. The terminal device 10, when the selection unit 40 selects the terminal device, acquires its position information and transmits the acquired position information and identification information collected by the collection unit 38 to a base station device by using a second communication unit 32.

Description

  The present invention relates to communication technology, and more particularly, to a terminal device, a communication system, and a communication method that transmit position information that has been measured.

  Since mobile communication terminals such as mobile phones are generally driven by a battery, it is desired to extend the access time to the mobile communication network by suppressing power consumption. Therefore, a plurality of mobile communication terminals relay data to each other using a short-distance communication method with lower power consumption than that used when accessing the mobile communication network, and the mobile communication terminal with the largest remaining battery capacity The mobile communication network is accessed instead of other mobile communication terminals (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2012-227781 A

  By mounting a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver on a mobile communication terminal, position information may be measured by the mobile communication terminal. The mobile communication terminal transmits the measured position information via the mobile communication network. In a position management system that manages the position of a mobile communication terminal, position information measured by each of a plurality of mobile communication terminals is collected via a mobile communication network, and the position of each mobile communication terminal is managed. Since each mobile communication terminal transmits location information in a timely manner, traffic on the mobile communication network increases. The battery of the mobile communication terminal is also consumed by positioning by the GPS receiver. As a result, the access time to the mobile communication network is shortened.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and its purpose is to suppress an increase in traffic due to transmission of location information of a mobile communication network, and to increase power consumption even when positioning location information. It is to provide a technology to suppress.

  In order to solve the above problems, a terminal device according to an aspect of the present invention includes a positioning unit that acquires position information, and a first wireless communication system for transmitting the position information acquired in the positioning unit to a base station device. A first communication unit that performs corresponding communication, a second communication unit that performs communication corresponding to a second wireless communication system having a shorter maximum transmission distance than the first wireless communication system in the first communication unit, and second communication The communication unit communicates the identification information about each terminal device and the remaining amount information about the remaining amount of the battery via the unit, collects the identification information about each terminal device and the remaining amount information about the remaining amount of the battery, and The information processing apparatus includes a collection unit that collects identification information and remaining amount information related to a remaining amount of battery, and a selection unit that selects one terminal device based on the collected remaining amount information. When the selection unit selects itself, the position information is acquired, and the acquired position information and the identification information collected by the collection unit are transmitted to the base station apparatus by the first communication unit.

  Another aspect of the present invention is a communication system. This communication system includes a plurality of terminal devices. Each of the plurality of terminal devices includes a positioning unit that acquires position information, and a first communication unit that performs communication corresponding to the first wireless communication system in order to transmit the position information acquired in the positioning unit to the base station device. And a second communication unit that executes communication corresponding to the second wireless communication system having a shorter maximum transmission distance than the first wireless communication system in the first communication unit. The plurality of terminal devices communicate with each other through the second communication unit with the identification information regarding each terminal device and the remaining amount information regarding the remaining amount of the battery. One terminal device selected based on the remaining amount information on the remaining amount of the battery and the collected remaining amount information among the plurality of terminal devices is collected. The positional information acquired in the positioning unit and the collected identification information are transmitted via one communication unit.

  Yet another embodiment of the present invention is a communication method. The method includes a step of acquiring position information, a step of executing communication corresponding to the first radio communication system in order to transmit the acquired position information to the base station apparatus, and maximum transmission than the first radio communication system. Executing communication corresponding to the second wireless communication system with a short distance, collecting remaining amount information on the remaining amount of the battery from other terminal devices via the second wireless communication system, and remaining the remaining amount of the own battery A step of selecting one terminal device based on the remaining amount information and the collected remaining amount information, and the selected one terminal device acquires location information and via the first wireless communication system Transmitting the acquired position information and the identification information about the terminal device obtained when collecting the remaining amount information to the base station device.

  It should be noted that any combination of the above-described constituent elements and a conversion of the expression of the present invention between a method, an apparatus, a system, a recording medium, a computer program, etc. are also effective as an aspect of the present invention.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the raise of the traffic by transmission of the positional information on a mobile communication network is suppressed, and even if it is a case where position information is measured, the increase in power consumption can be suppressed.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the communication system which concerns on the Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of the terminal device of FIG. It is a figure which shows the data structure of the database produced | generated in the collection part in FIG. It is a sequence diagram which shows the notification procedure by the communication system of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement procedure by the terminal device of FIG.

  Before describing the present invention specifically, an outline will be given first. An embodiment of the present invention relates to a communication system in which communication is performed between a plurality of terminal devices and a base station device. Each terminal device has a communication function of a mobile communication system and can communicate with a base station device. Each terminal device has a communication function of a short-range communication system, and communication between terminal devices is also possible. Furthermore, each terminal device has a GPS reception function and can acquire position information. Under such circumstances, the terminal device can transmit the measured location information and information for specifying the terminal device to the base station device, and the base station device side specifies the location information and the terminal device. It becomes possible to manage the location of the terminal device based on the information to be performed. The information for specifying the terminal device is information such as a unique ID that is identification information of the terminal device or an ID of a user of the terminal device. When such processing is added to normal communication processing between the terminal device and the base station device, traffic for communication with the base station device increases, power consumption of the terminal device increases, and the battery The communication time of the terminal device driven by is shortened. In order to suppress an increase in traffic for communication with the base station apparatus and to suppress an increase in power consumption, each terminal apparatus executes the following processing.

  A plurality of terminal devices existing in a range that can be communicated by the short-range communication system measure the remaining battery level, and communicate the remaining battery level and their own terminal device ID with each other through the short-range communication system. Note that the power consumed by the short-range communication system is smaller than the power consumed by the mobile communication system and the GPS. Each terminal device compares the collected battery remaining amount including its own battery remaining amount, and selects the terminal device having the maximum battery remaining amount. When the selected terminal device is itself, the location information is measured, and the measured location information, the collected terminal device ID, and the own terminal device ID are transmitted to the base station device through the mobile communication system. In the case of another selected terminal device, the terminal device does not execute these processes. That is, each terminal device autonomously selects a terminal device to which position information should be transmitted.

  FIG. 1 shows a configuration of a communication system 100 according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The communication system 100 includes a first terminal device 10 a, a second terminal device 10 b, a third terminal device 10 c, a fourth terminal device 10 d, a base station device 12, a network 14, and a location management device 16 that are collectively referred to as the terminal device 10. . The first terminal device 10a includes a first positioning antenna 20a, a first mobile communication antenna 22a, and a first short-range communication antenna 24a, and the second terminal device 10b includes a second positioning antenna 20b and a second positioning antenna 20b. It includes a mobile communication antenna 22b and a second short-range communication antenna 24b. The third terminal apparatus 10c includes a third positioning antenna 20c, a third mobile communication antenna 22c, and a third short-range communication antenna 24c, and the fourth terminal apparatus 10d includes a fourth positioning antenna 20d and a fourth positioning antenna 20d. It includes a mobile communication antenna 22d and a fourth near field communication antenna 24d. Here, the first positioning antenna 20a, the second positioning antenna 20b, the third positioning antenna 20c, and the fourth positioning antenna 20d are collectively referred to as the positioning antenna 20. The first mobile communication antenna 22a, the second mobile communication antenna 22b, the third mobile communication antenna 22c, and the fourth mobile communication antenna 22d are collectively referred to as the mobile communication antenna 22. The first near field communication antenna 24a, the second near field communication antenna 24b, the third near field communication antenna 24c, and the fourth near field communication antenna 24d are collectively referred to as the near field communication antenna 24.

  Here, as the plurality of terminal devices 10, four terminal devices 10 from the first terminal device 10a to the fourth terminal device 10d are shown, but the number of terminal devices 10 is not limited to “4”. These communicate with each other by a short-range communication system via a short-range communication antenna 24. Each terminal device 10 is given a terminal device ID, and each terminal device 10 is identified by the terminal device ID. Each terminal device 10 can also perform positioning by GPS via the positioning antenna 20, and acquire position information by positioning. Note that positioning may be performed when a selection described later is made and not performed until then. Further, each terminal apparatus 10 communicates with the base station apparatus 12 through a mobile communication system via the mobile communication antenna 22.

  The base station device 12 communicates with a plurality of terminal devices 10 by a mobile communication system on one end side. Since the processing in the base station apparatus 12 is a known technique, description thereof is omitted here. The base station apparatus 12 is connected to the network 14 on the other end side. Here, it communicates with the location management device 16 via the network 14. The location management device 16 receives location information from the terminal device 10 via the network 14 and the base station device 12 and also receives a terminal device ID for identifying the terminal device 10. The location management device 16 stores the terminal device ID and location information in association with each other.

  Each terminal device 10 is driven by a battery, acquires information on the remaining amount of battery (hereinafter referred to as “remaining amount information”), and communicates the remaining amount information and the terminal device ID with each other in a short-range communication system. And collect together with the terminal device ID of the local station and the remaining amount information. Each terminal device 10 compares the remaining battery amounts based on the remaining amount information, and selects one terminal device 10 having the maximum remaining battery amount. That is, selection of the terminal device 10 having the maximum remaining battery capacity is performed by each terminal device 10. When another terminal device 10 is selected, the terminal device 10 does not transmit position information to the base station device 12. When the terminal device 10 selects itself, the terminal device 10 acquires the position information, and the base station transmits the position information of the terminal device 10, the terminal device ID of the other terminal device 10, and its own terminal device ID in the mobile communication system. Transmit to device 12. The base station device 12 receives the position information and the terminal device ID transmitted from the terminal device 10. The location management device 16 stores the location information of the terminal device 10 and the terminal device ID in association with each other, and associates the location information of the terminal device 10 with each of the other terminal device IDs transmitted from the terminal device 10. Remember.

  FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the terminal device 10. The terminal device 10 includes a positioning antenna 20, a mobile communication antenna 22, a near field communication antenna 24, a positioning unit 30, a first communication unit 32, a second communication unit 34, and a control unit 36. A collection unit 38, a selection unit 40, and an instruction unit 42.

  The positioning unit 30 receives a signal from a GPS satellite via the positioning antenna 20, and acquires position information based on the received signal. The positioning information is not limited to GPS, and any known technique may be used. The positioning unit 30 outputs the acquired position information to the control unit 36. The positioning unit 30 acquires position information when receiving an instruction from the control unit 36.

  The first communication unit 32 performs communication with the base station apparatus 12 via the mobile communication antenna 22. As described above, communication between the first communication unit 32 and the base station apparatus 12 corresponds to a mobile communication system. The mobile communication system is, for example, a third generation mobile communication system, a fourth generation mobile communication system, a wireless MAN (Metropolitan Area Network), and the like, and is a known technique, and thus description thereof is omitted here.

  The second communication unit 34 performs communication with another terminal device 10 via the short-range communication antenna 24. Since such communication does not pass through the base station apparatus 12, it can be said that it is ad hoc communication. As described above, the communication performed in the second communication unit 34 corresponds to the short-range communication system. The short-range communication system is, for example, a wireless PAN (Personal Area Network), a wireless LAN (Local Area Network), or the like. The former includes IrDA, Bluetooth (registered trademark), UWB, Z-Wave, ZigBee (registered trademark). That is, it can be said that the short-distance communication system has a shorter maximum transmission distance than the mobile communication system. Therefore, the power consumption of the second communication unit 34 is smaller than the power consumption of the first communication unit 32. The second communication unit 34 transmits or receives a signal including the combination of the remaining amount information and the terminal device ID.

  The control unit 36 generates remaining amount information and causes the second communication unit 34 to transmit the remaining amount information to another terminal device 10. In response to this, the second communication unit 34 transmits the remaining amount information. The second communication unit 34 also transmits a terminal device ID. The collection unit 38 receives the combination of the remaining amount information from the other terminal device 10 and the terminal device ID via the second communication unit 34. The collection unit 38 collects combinations of remaining amount information and terminal device IDs for various terminal device IDs. If the newly received terminal device ID has already been received, the collection unit 38 updates the already received remaining amount information with the newly received remaining amount information. FIG. 3 shows the data structure of the database generated in the collection unit 38. As illustrated, remaining amount information corresponding to each terminal device ID is stored. Returning to FIG. Note that the database includes its own remaining amount information.

  The selection unit 40 selects one terminal device 10 based on the remaining amount information collected and stored in the collection unit 38. The selection unit 40 selects the terminal device 10 having the maximum remaining battery level. When the selection unit 40 selects itself, the instruction unit 42 instructs the positioning unit 30 to perform positioning, and acquires position information from the positioning unit 30. In addition, the instruction unit 42 acquires the terminal device ID from the collection unit 38. Further, the instruction unit 42 causes the first communication unit 32 to transmit a notification that summarizes the terminal device ID and the position information. In response to this, the first communication unit 32 transmits a notification to the base station apparatus 12 in the mobile communication system. On the other hand, the instruction unit 42 does not transmit a notification to the first communication unit 32 when the selection unit 40 selects another terminal device 10, that is, when the selection unit 40 is not selected. In addition, when the device itself is not selected, the acquisition of the position information in the positioning unit 30 may be stopped.

  This configuration can be realized in terms of hardware by a CPU, memory, or other LSI of any computer, and in terms of software, it can be realized by a program loaded in the memory, but here it is realized by their cooperation. Draw functional blocks. However, those skilled in the art will understand that these functional blocks can be realized in various forms by hardware only, software only, or a combination thereof.

  The operation of the communication system 100 configured as above will be described. FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram illustrating a notification procedure by the communication system 100 according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The first terminal device 10a transmits the remaining amount information to the second terminal device 10b (S120), transmits it to the third terminal device 10c (S122), and transmits it to the fourth terminal device 10d (S124). The second terminal device 10b transmits the remaining amount information to the first terminal device 10a (S126), transmits it to the third terminal device 10c (S128), and transmits it to the fourth terminal device 10d (S130).

  The third terminal device 10c transmits the remaining amount information to the first terminal device 10a (S132), transmits it to the second terminal device 10b (S134), and transmits it to the fourth terminal device 10d (S136). The fourth terminal device 10d transmits the remaining amount information to the first terminal device 10a (S138), transmits it to the second terminal device 10b (S140), and transmits it to the third terminal device 10c (S142). The first terminal device 10a performs determination (S144), the second terminal device 10b performs determination (S146), the third terminal device 10c performs determination (S148), and the fourth terminal device 10d performs determination (S150). ). The third terminal apparatus 10c transmits a notification to the base station apparatus 12 (S152), and the base station apparatus 12 transmits a notification to the location management apparatus 16 (S154). The location management device 16 stores the content of the notification (S156).

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation procedure performed by the terminal device 10. The collection unit 38 collects remaining amount information (S180). The selection unit 40 selects the terminal device 10 having the largest remaining amount (S182). If the selected terminal device 10 is another terminal device 10 (Y in S184), the process ends. On the other hand, when the selected terminal device 10 is not another terminal device 10 (N in S184), the positioning unit 30 measures the position information (S186), and the first communication unit 32 includes a plurality of terminal device IDs and position information. Is transmitted to the base station apparatus 12 (188).

  According to the embodiment of the present invention, positioning / transmission of location information can be made unnecessary when another terminal device is selected. Further, since positioning / transmission of location information is not required, an increase in traffic due to transmission of location information of the mobile communication network can be suppressed. Further, since positioning / transmission of position information is not required, an increase in power consumption can be suppressed. Moreover, since an increase in power consumption is suppressed, it is possible to suppress a reduction in operating time. Also, since each terminal device selects one terminal device based on a common criterion, the same terminal device is selected even when each terminal device performs its own selection. Further, even when there is no other terminal device in the communication range of the short-range communication system, that is, when the remaining amount information of the other terminal device cannot be obtained by the short-range communication system, the collecting unit Since it collects information, it selects itself and transmits its own terminal information ID together with the position information, so that it can be realized with the same configuration.

  In the above, this invention was demonstrated based on the Example. This embodiment is an exemplification, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications can be made to the combination of each component and each processing process, and such modifications are also within the scope of the present invention. .

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Terminal device, 12 Base station apparatus, 14 Network, 16 Position management apparatus, 20 Positioning antenna, 22 Mobile communication antenna, 24 Short-range communication antenna, 30 Positioning part, 32 First communication part, 34 Second communication Unit, 36 control unit, 38 collection unit, 40 selection unit, 42 instruction unit, 100 communication system.

Claims (4)

A positioning unit for acquiring position information;
A first communication unit that performs communication corresponding to the first wireless communication system in order to transmit the position information acquired in the positioning unit to the base station device;
A second communication unit that performs communication corresponding to the second wireless communication system having a shorter maximum transmission distance than the first wireless communication system in the first communication unit;
The identification information regarding each terminal device and the remaining amount information regarding the remaining amount of battery are communicated with each other via the second communication unit, and the identification information regarding each terminal device and the remaining amount information regarding the remaining amount of battery are collected. In addition, a collection unit that collects its own identification information and remaining amount information regarding the remaining amount of battery,
A selection unit that selects one terminal device based on the collected remaining amount information,
When the selection unit selects itself, the position information is acquired, and the acquired position information and the identification information collected by the collection unit are transmitted to the base station apparatus by the first communication unit. Terminal device.   When the selection unit selects another terminal device, the terminal device does not acquire the position information, does not transmit the acquired position information to the base station device, and the identification information collected by the collection unit The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the terminal device is not transmitted to the base station device. A plurality of terminal devices,
Each of the plurality of terminal devices is
A positioning unit for acquiring position information;
A first communication unit that performs communication corresponding to the first wireless communication system in order to transmit the position information acquired in the positioning unit to the base station device;
A second communication unit that performs communication corresponding to the second wireless communication system having a shorter maximum transmission distance than the first wireless communication system in the first communication unit;
The plurality of terminal devices communicate with each other with identification information about each terminal device and remaining amount information about the remaining amount of battery via the second communication unit, and with each terminal device identification information and remaining amount information, Including remaining amount information and identification information,
One of the plurality of terminal devices selected based on the remaining amount information regarding the remaining amount of the battery and the collected remaining amount information is transmitted to the positioning unit via the first communication unit. A communication system characterized by transmitting the acquired position information and the collected identification information. Obtaining location information;
Executing communication corresponding to the first wireless communication system in order to transmit the acquired position information to the base station device;
Executing communication corresponding to the second wireless communication system having a shorter maximum transmission distance than the first wireless communication system;
Collect the remaining amount information on the remaining amount of the battery from other terminal devices via the second wireless communication system, and based on the remaining amount information on the remaining amount of the battery and the collected remaining amount information, Selecting a terminal device; and
The selected one terminal device acquires the location information, and transmits the obtained location information and the identification information about the terminal device obtained when collecting the remaining amount information via the first wireless communication system to the base station. Transmitting to the device;
A communication method comprising:

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